“The number you dialed….”
(Thursday: Feb 15, 2007: 3:15 pm)“I am not too sure whether I have no answer to that or you have a wrong question!!?”
That is what I said when I tried to be a little wise with the caller at the other receiving end. But it didn’t turn out as I thought it would – my words seemed to be taken as challenge to her and made her furious. I was taken aback with slight regret.
“Looook… the question is very simple…” she said with higher tone of voice that I could almost imagine seeing her to start fuming, perhaps jumped off her chair with fist clenched at her waist.
“Why did you send the documents to the branch office instead of straight to the Headquarters?” “You’ve put many people in the hot soup… blaa…blaa… blaa... blaa… blaa…You knowww? Blaa… blaa… blaa… You see?!!!” It was a lengthy blow from her. I found it hard to trip with my words in between over her stormy weather.
From the words “Branch office” and “Headquarters”, I sensed something was not right already. Subsequent words from her made me certain I was caught as the wrong actor in the wrong drama. As far as I could remember, the only documents I sent recently were to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI), nothing to do with branch office or headquarters thing. The only place that holds the ministerial office is in Putrajaya, nowhere else. After all, the Ministry Office is not known to me referred to as branch office and if it did, where is the Headquarters?
“Hold on a sec! What documents are you referring to here?” “What branch office… what Headquarters?” I asked her as I tried to align the direction of our sporadic row.
Seconds after articulating my confused state of mind started off with her explanation that elucidated her points, she then retorted in a familiar twang of hers;
“Aiyaaa… Very sorry woo…” It was an apparent gargle in her mouth to lament her blunder.All in all, the blame went to the wrongly dialed number. Fair share of blame also went to my name Zack was similar to her intended receiver that made it passed through the receptionist and my secretary without hiccup. The accentuated significance was about the documents, very much to what I had on mind to start the roll. May be my speaking voice sounded familiar to her too. And, on top of it if blame is really that essential; a scuttle in her deliverance without proper overture on the subject matter due to her dismay had made perfect coincidence for the howler.
Phewww!!!
I didn’t want to know further what troubled her with the documents wrongly sent but her bash on me made me baffled for a few minutes. The first impression came to mind was my documents sent to MOSTI had created uncalled for turbulence to the officers there. It has brought good jolt in me, afraid that the company’s integrity is at stake over certain issue.
Well, it was just flatulence in a daily routine. It may be looked like pointless incident that fits to be called time waster. But I do not look at it that way. Yeah, may be wasting my time and emotions for a minute but to me, what’s behind; it is coherent to profess one’s muff and error as a part of learning process for parties involved.
Ms. Wong, wherever you are, I am glad you ended up the whole thing with big laugh and thank you for another blooper that added to the shelf of my library of experience.
16 comments:
Salam Bro Gab,
I got quite a few incidents of the similar encounter, after all they were many N in my previous organization. There was one time when I was busily managing project rollout to the sister companies, and there was a call from one of the head of the subsidiaries demanding explanation on why I was so late in presenting him with the OSHA-related report, which without it they cannot operate the plant facility.
For a split second I was like, wow, IT world really moves fast, they can even introduce new regulation over night. Then I innocently asked him back, “Err.. excuse me sir, what OSHA report are u talking about?”. And he was “Alamak, salah N lah…sorry”.
ayooo that can be emberassing. many things can be learned here. first and foremost jangan cepat melenting. thank god you did not reciprocate her.
Gab, have a good break.
Gab,
Incident like this do happen. A good experience to figure out what, why, where etc etc..until found out it was a mistake.
Have a nice holiday Sir Gab!
Anggerik M
Shocking but interesting experiencce that stack up your shelf of experiences. Whoever this Ms Wong is, I am sure she'll learn to bite her tongue next time with whoever she is dealing with next time.
U smooth talking u....charm her off immediately....i mean u managed to cool her off. Good thing u didnt flip or anything. Save a lot of hassle and energy there, sir.
Hmmm...tak pasal-pasal kene marah plak ye...
Tapi takpe...macam kata gab '...another blooper that added to the shelf of my library of experience.'
bloopers - i've had some bloopers before, a major one is this. citer panjang nih tapi i try to pendekkan yek?
one day while busy working (time anak dara dulu), i had a call from this girl. without giving proper introduction of herself, she go and whacked me up in da phone telling me to stay away from her boyfriend. startled, i thot of just brushing her off but then the wicked side of me just couldnt resist so i played along...tee hee hee. the conversation is something like dis;
girl: u better stay away from him..@#$%^&*()..wah marah giler tuh
pi carik boypren lain lah. he saw me first..blah blah blah
kc: but he saw me second and he liked me better, so how? best girl wins what...
girl: @#$%^&*()_+ again she sort of cursing and then she said something to which i replied;
kc: eh..are u sure we're talking about the same guy? mine's tall dark and handsome, yrs sounded like short, stubby and rounded...mine's name is #$%^ (padahal tipu jerk)... then there was a pause and she curtly replied..eh eh sori lah, salah orang lah..
turns out there's another girl with same namesake as mine in another dept. drpd tak tahu dah jadi tahu...hehehe.
eh, sorilah my comment today very the long one.
thats why, better introduce first before have the teleconversation otherwise...................hehehehe
Gab,
wrong number ..I takkan lupa this phone call ( di Gannu kite )..Ada call di rumah so I angkat...
I : hello
Caller : Ginni mok der, saye beghase serba saloh, kite kene putuh kang jugok petunangang budok bedue tu...ke guane mok der...
I : nak cakap dengan sapa, salah nombor ni.
Caller : Ni bukang mok der ?
I : bukan ,salah nombor ni.
Caller : doh tu nombor mok der beghape ?
I : mana saya tau. maaf ye.
( sori kalau base gannu tu ada salah )
Ke guane gab...nak ketawa pun ada , sian pun ada...mesti you pun rasa macam tu bila that Ms Wong dialled wrong no....
this is where the courtesy campaign should come in...many a time I do get such call patients attacking us for no reason and then realised they got the got wrong clinic branch...but the thing is .."ISSIT DIFFICULT TO SAY SORRY?"
just curious.. what was ur approximate heart rate masa u kena baham dengan that lady singa?
hope u r having a nice holiday :0)
hahahaha...mcm2 experience ada...
how about mcm ni plak:
Caller : hello, may i speak to Ms N pls
Me : ya..
Caller : can i confirm ur ofis address for the delivery of one unit of digital camera
Me : huh? digital camera?
Caller : ya... the one that u won thru ur mastercard
Me : issit?
Caller : didnt u receive d notification thru emel bla bla bla...
Me : no
Caller : but u won a camera u know
Me : ok then... (hati start berbunga2 xcited dah....)
Caller : ok let me confirm again, Ms N bt AR
Me : huh? not me la.... alaaaaaaaa...
*kecewa*
(ada 3 org nama sama kat my workplace)
Gab,
Myself, sometimes I do enjoy this kind of `miss- communications'.
Challenging when it comes to the biz. matters esp. when talking the stranger/govt. officer/decision maker.
And I really respect those who can control the voice/emotion over the phone regardless the situation & position.
Who knows, after talking to her, there will be a positive outcome.
Dear friends,
I will have it all replied once I have time to do so. I am only back from my holidays.
GAB
NJ --> I can imagine how you feel but lucky you are not mischievous enough to try to drag the thing for fun.
LOLLIES --> Cepat melenting is the key word here. Right, she could've spared her embarassment if she slows down a bit to control her emotion. And I won't do such a thing, to reciprocate, to give back the brickbat to her.
KAK TEH --> It has been a good break. Thank you KAK TEH
ANGGERIK MERAH --> Indeed it was a good experience when in that very minute, may be in lesthan 10 seconds you'd use up your brain muscle to comprehend the thing. And I had a good break during CNY.
Welcome back to Malaysia
KC --> That's a nice story. It would've been different story if you tried to similarize the boyfriend of hers and come up with all the cock and bull stories. wehehehehe
WONDA --> As a matter of fact she was a nice lady. She was under great pressure at that time. Why I said that? At the end of it when she was back to her normal self, I could sense the warmth in her.
MANAL --> I am not easily jumped over things. I'd be the lowest profile in a group of people talking and discussing thing. I'd be the right person to be blown at and I can still smile.
KAK LADY --> Things just happen KAK LADY. I have lived my life long enough to tackle some of them and short enough to learn even more.
BERLINGO MERAH --> Is this the same Berlingo that I know? I don't know you're now in red. hahahaha
Right Sir, everything needs to be cleared on the introductory part for comprehensions.
RINA JORDAN --> Macam le RINA kenal Mok Der kan? hahahaha. Lucky RINA didn't just agree with her idea right away. If not she'd be setting the date to return the ring.
KAK ELLE --> I agree with you Kak Elle. Courtesy campaign is somehow need to be there for us Asians. We are not that rude if compared to the Western people but on certain things like thanking people and apologizing and even complimenting are not too smooth in our culture / subculture.
HELLI --> Ihe digital camera was so close yet so far. hehehe. After all nothing to regret over things we never meant to have.
KOPI O --> This kinda mishaps happen every now and then. This is where we can see true colors of people. Generally speaking, I would see the more educated the person, the better the way he or she handles the situation. But not necessarily sometimes. It takes another set of mentality with proper training to handle it with finesse.
Post a Comment